Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Apples and Oranges at the ABQ Journal

There is no editorial page I loathe more than the one at the Wall Street Journal. But, I love the newspaper itself for its other insightful information and features. It is an apples and oranges thing They treat their editorial page as a separate entity from news gathering. I used to say the same about the Albuquerque Journal. They used to do a good job of insulating their Editorial page from the News side of the company. But, no more. It seems to me that the editor on the news side is now controlling the editorial page too. There is nothing wrong with the two groups talking to each other, and they should. But they should not be managed by the same person.

Now, witness the nauseating diatribe by Thomas Cole against the venerable Albuquerque Community Foundation this morning. Their big sin is that one of their employees appeared in a Diane Denish commercial. And Thom Cole turned it into the scandal of the day in his allotted front page space.

This is a very dangerous practice for a newspaper. Soon we will not be able to separate editorial diatribe from news coverage. The Cole piece this morning is just one example of this degradation in the newspapers credibility. The Journal is becoming the Fox News of the print media. I really believe that. I think the only thing they can't slant to a editorial view is the comic strip content. Even they would not screw with Dilbert.

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About Me

Jim Baca has a strong record of visionary service to New Mexico. He retired as the State of New Mexico's Natural Resource Trustee 1n 2010. He has served as Mayor of the City of Albuquerque, as well as two prior terms as New Mexico’s elected State Land Commissioner. He served as the Director of the National Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior in the first Clinton Administration. Jim Baca also serves on the Boards of numerous non profit organizations including The Wilderness Society and the Wyss Foundation and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Baca has run a successful public affairs consulting practice when not serving in public office. He spends his retirement playing golf, attending board meetings, and generally doing what ever he wants to do.